Measuring and remotely-analyzing grip pressure for swinging objects in sports

ABSTRACT

A grip pressure measurement device is embedded in a swing object used for sports, such as a golf club or a racquet. Embedding can occur during manufacturing or as an after-market modification. The grip measurement device comprises one or more pressure sensors, a local processor, and a network interface. One embodiment of the pressure sensors measures from two sides, a side of contact with a player&#39;s hand and a side of contact with the swinging object.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/385,951, filed on Sep. 9, 2016, by Jonathan AndrewHorner and Gregory John Bourke, the contents of which being herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally, to the mechanical and computernetworking arts, and more specifically, to measuring andremotely-analyzing grip pressure for swinging objects in sports.

BACKGROUND

Many players of sports such as golf, tennis, baseball, and others,constantly seek to improve contact with the ball. For baseball andtennis, ball contact is an important part of the game because itinitiates play, and for golf, ball contact is an even more criticalcomponent of play. Grip pressure, or the force imposed by a player'shand on a swinging object, has a significant impact on ball contact.

Conventional grip measurement devices are external to the swingingobject. For example, a glove or watch worn by a player provides somefeedback. Unfortunately, when a team is training, the conventional gripmeasurement devices are not easily transferred between players, needingto be unlatched and taken off of one player, and then put on and latchedby another player. These conventional devices not only waste time butcan be easily lost when shared between players.

Furthermore, the sensors are in contact with a player's hand rather thanthe object in receipt of the resulting hand force. This can lead to someinaccuracies.

Lastly, the feedback from these devices is limited. A mere number, orother simplistic analysis of the grip pressure can be displayed based onlocal processing power of the device.

What is needed is a grip measurement device embedded directly into aswinging object for sports. The embedded device should wirelesslyconnect to a remote network server or to a higher processing powerdevice, in order to generate robust feedback that is more useful toplayers.

SUMMARY

These shortcomings are addressed by the present disclosure of methods,computer program products, and systems for measuring and analyzing grippressure for swinging objects in sports.

In one embodiment, a grip pressure measurement device is embedded in aswing object used for sports, such as a golf club or a racquet.Embedding can occur during manufacturing or as an after-marketmodification. The grip measurement device comprises one or more pressuresensors, a local processor, and a network interface. One embodiment ofthe pressure sensors measures from two sides, a side of contact with aplayer's hand and a side of contact with the swinging object.

In another embodiment, a grip pressure analysis server receivesreal-time data concerning grip pressure during swings, and optionallyother information such as grip coverage, swing trajectory, point of ballcontact, and the like. In one case, the network interface communicatesdirectly with the grip analysis server, and in another case, connectswith a local smart phone or hot spot for assisted communication.Feedback from the grip pressure analysis server can be sent back inreal-time with the swing for display on the grip pressure measurementdevice or for display on a connected smartphone application.

Advantageously, robust and real-time feedback is available for grippressure on a swinging object without any external equipment such as aglove or watch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following drawings, like reference numbers are used to refer tolike elements. Although the following figures depict various examples ofthe invention, the invention is not limited to the examples depicted inthe figures,

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram illustrating a system for gripmeasurement and analysis, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed block diagram illustrating a grip pressure andanalysis server of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective diagram illustrating a golf club with a gripmeasurement device, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a high-level chart illustrating a method for grip measurementand analysis, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a general computer system forimplementing techniques described herein, according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure describes methods, computer program products, andsystems for measuring and analyzing grip pressure in swinging objectsused in sports.

The embodiments described herein is not limited to a single invention.One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, given the disclosureherein, many possible variations within the scope of the presentinventions, although not described in detail for conciseness.

I. Grip Measurement and Analysis System (FIGS. 1-3)

FIG. 1 is a high-level perspective diagram illustrating a system 100 forgrip measurement and analysis, according to an embodiment. The system100 comprises a grip pressure measurement device 110, a swinging objectfor sports 120, a grip pressure analysis server 130, and a smartphone140.

Other embodiments of the system 100 with more or less components arepossible. A localized system can include just the grip pressuremeasurement device 110 operating in isolation. An enhanced localizedsystem connects the smartphone 140 for more processing power anddisplay. An example implementation of the system 100 at a batting cagefacility includes a large screen television proximate to a batting cage.Each swing is analyzed and results are displayed in real-time on thelarge screen television. Another example implementation includes anaudio device with a speaker that audibly coaches a player foradjustments after each swing.

The grip measurement device 110 can measure grip pressure while swingingthe swinging object 120. The swinging object can be a golf club, aracquet, a bat, an ore, or any object grabbed by a player to impartforce on a ball or other object (e.g., water or uneven bars). Theresulting data is sent upstream for analysis. In some embodiments, thegrip measurement device 110 receives and outputs feedback from externalresources. For instance, a vibration or LED lights can give immediateindications to the measurement.

In one implementation, the grip measurement device 110 includes one ormore pressure sensors (e.g., a piezo sensor or a heat sensor responsiveto pressure), a processor, and a network interface. Optionally, adisplay, speaker, or vibration component provide feedback. In someembodiments, the grip measurement device 110 is embedded within theswinging object 120 during manufacture. In an after-market embodiment,embedding can occur after manufacture into a cavity to convert or modifya conventional swinging object device. A surface mounted embodiment canbe placed under grip wrapping.

The swinging object 120 can transfer force from a player to a ball oranother object. For example, the described techniques apply to ballcontact sports such as golf, tennis and baseball which use golf clubs,tennis racquets and baseball bats, correspondingly. The swinging object120 can be used in the context of an ongoing sporting event, a practicefacility, or even in a virtual environment. The techniques can alsoapply to other sports in which grip pressure against an object isimportant, such as rowing (e.g., ore grip pressure), gymnastics (e.g.,uneven bars grip pressure) or Judo (e.g., gi grip pressure).

The grip pressure analysis server 130 receives data from the gripmeasurement device 110, and uses internal processes to generate feedback(e.g., audio or video). One type of feedback is a pure grip pressuremeasurement. Other types of feedback enhance the current data with otherdata, such a historical grip pressure, ideal grip pressure, handpositioning, grip pressure at different times of a swing, multimediagenerated based on the data, tables, graphs, and the like. Databases,internal algorithms, and other external servers (e.g., a search engine)can all be leveraged to generate feedback.

In an embodiment, the grip pressure analysis server 130 also managesuser accounts. The individual grip measurement device 110 can beregistered to a user account associated with one or more players. Datasent upstream can include an identifier (e.g., MAC address or username)of the grip pressure analysis server 130 and appropriate securityinformation. In another embodiment, a player provides a voice command,fingerprint or other recognition corpus to the grip pressure measurementdevice 110 in order to identify a specific player for analysis.

The smartphone 140 can alternatively be a laptop computer, anInternet-enabled television, or another computerized network device. Adownloaded application or network browser on the smartphone 140 displaysa user interface to the system 100 so that users can manage accounts,shop, receive feedback, and the like. The smartphone 140 can also serveas a hot spot for access to external resources (e.g., the grip pressureanalysis server 130).

FIG. 2 is a more detailed block diagram illustrating a grip pressure andanalysis server of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment. A grip appcommunication module 210 communicates with the grip app 142 (of FIG. 1)for transferring back and forth regarding golf swings and resultinganalysis. Certain protocols, such as XML, IEEE 802.11, custom protocols,or the like can be used to format data exchanges. A user accountdatabase 220 stores individualized information and settings for athletesand can be protected by log-in information. Also, historical swinginformation and golf swing sessions can be saved. The individualizedinformation and settings can be accessed when analyzing a user's swingin real-time. The grip analysis module 230 implements algorithms, idealswing information, actual swing information, historical swinginformation for a specific user, context conditions such as distancefrom the hole, angle of incline or decline, and wind speed, foranalysis. The analysis results can be sent back to a mobile device fortransfer to a grip measurement device and output to a user.

FIG. 3 is a perspective diagram illustrating a golf club 300 with a gripmeasurement device 310, according to an embodiment. The golf club canbe, for example, a 2 iron or a 3 wood. The grip measurement device 310measures pressure received from a hand. An array of sensors can provideeven more detailed information about individual finger grip pressure,for example. Also, an array can provide both a grip measurement from thehand and a grip measurement to the golf club.

II. Grip Measurement and Analysis Methods (FIG. 4)

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method 400 for grip measurementand analysis, according to an embodiment. Many variations are possible,for example, there can be additional or fewer steps, steps can beperformed in a different order, or functionalities of the steps can bealternatively grouped.

A grip measurement device is attached to a swinging object for sports(step 410). A network connection is made between a network interface ofthe grip measurement device and a remote resource (step 420).Optionally, a user account is configured, and/or a user identity isestablished for upcoming swings of a specific player (step 430). Grippressure data is measured corresponding with a swing of the swingingobject, and reported upstream to the remote resource (step 440).Analysis of the grip pressure data is performed (step 450), for example,by a wirelessly connected smartphone and/or a remote served availablethrough a data network. Feedback is displayed to the player (step 460).

This description of the invention has been presented for the purposes ofillustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise form described, and manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the teachingabove. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to bestexplain the principles of the invention and its practical applications.This description will enable others skilled in the art to best utilizeand practice the invention in various embodiments and with variousmodifications as are suited to a particular use.

III. General Computing Devices (FIG. 5)

Many of the functionalities described herein can be implemented withcomputer software, computer hardware, or a combination, as shown in FIG.5.

The computing device 500 is an exemplary device that is implementablefor each of the components of the system 100, including the wirelessnetworking device 130. The computing device 500 can be a mobilecomputing device, a laptop device, a smartphone, a tablet device, aphablet device, a video game console, a personal computing device, astationary computing device, a server blade, an Internet appliance, avirtual computing device, a distributed computing device, a cloud-basedcomputing device, or any appropriate processor-driven device.

The computing device 500, of the present embodiment, includes a memory510, a processor 520, a storage drive 530, and an I/O port 540. Each ofthe components is coupled for electronic communication via a bus 599.Communication can be digital and/or analog, and use any suitableprotocol.

The memory 510 further comprises network applications 512 and anoperating system 514. The network applications 512 can include a webbrowser, a mobile application, an application that uses networking, aremote application executing locally, a network protocol application, anetwork management application, a network routing application, or thelike.

The operating system 514 can be one of the Microsoft Windows® family ofoperating systems (e.g., Windows 7, 8, 10, Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000,Windows XP, Windows XP x64 Edition, Windows Vista, Windows CE, orWindows Mobile), Linux, HP-UX, UNIX, Sun OS, Solaris, Mac OS X, AlphaOS, AIX, IRIX32, or IRIX64. Other operating systems may be used.Microsoft Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

The processor 520 can be a network processor (e.g., optimized for IEEE802.11), a general purpose processor, an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a reducedinstruction set controller (RISC) processor, an integrated circuit, orthe like. Qualcomm Atheros, Broadcom Corporation, and MarvellSemiconductors manufacture processors that are optimized for IEEE 802.11devices. The processor 520 can be single core, multiple core, or includemore than one processing elements. The processor 520 can be disposed onsilicon or any other suitable material. The processor 520 can receiveand execute instructions and data stored in the memory 510 or thestorage drive 530

The storage drive 530 can be any non-volatile type of storage such as amagnetic disc, EEPROM, Flash, or the like. The storage drive 530 storescode and data for applications.

The I/O port 540 further comprises a user interface 542 and a networkinterface 544. The user interface 542 can output to a display device andreceive input from, for example, a keyboard. The network interface 544(e.g. RF antennae) connects to a medium such as Ethernet or Wi-Fi fordata input and output.

Many of the functionalities described herein can be implemented withcomputer software, computer hardware, or a combination.

Computer software products (e.g., non-transitory computer productsstoring source code) may be written in any of various suitableprogramming languages, such as C, C++, C#, Oracle® Java, JavaScript,PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, AJAX, and Adobe® Flash®. The computer softwareproduct may be an independent application with data input and datadisplay modules. Alternatively, the computer software products may beclasses that are instantiated as distributed objects. The computersoftware products may also be component software such as Java Beans(from Sun Microsystems) or Enterprise Java Beans (EJB from SunMicrosystems).

Furthermore, the computer that is running the previously mentionedcomputer software may be connected to a network and may interface toother computers using this network. The network may be on an intranet orthe Internet, among others. The network may be a wired network (e.g.,using copper), telephone network, packet network, an optical network(e.g., using optical fiber), or a wireless network, or any combinationof these. For example, data and other information may be passed betweenthe computer and components (or steps) of a system of the inventionusing a wireless network using a protocol such as Wi-Fi (IEEE standards802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11e, 802.11g, 802.11i, 802.11n, and802.11ac, just to name a few examples). For example, signals from acomputer may be transferred, at least in part, wirelessly to componentsor other computers.

In an embodiment, with a Web browser executing on a computer workstationsystem, a user accesses a system on the World Wide Web (WWW) through anetwork such as the Internet. The Web browser is used to download webpages or other content in various formats including HTML, XML, text,PDF, and postscript, and may be used to upload information to otherparts of the system. The Web browser may use uniform resourceidentifiers (URLs) to identify resources on the Web and hypertexttransfer protocol (HTTP) in transferring files on the Web.

This description of the invention has been presented for the purposes ofillustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise form described, and manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the teachingabove. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to bestexplain the principles of the invention and its practical applications.This description will enable others skilled in the art to best utilizeand practice the invention in various embodiments and with variousmodifications as are suited to a particular use. The scope of theinvention is defined by the following claims.

We claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method for, dynamically providingreal-time feedback based on remote analysis for grip pressure on a golfclub while swinging, in a mobile device comprising at least a first typeof transceiver and a second type of transceiver different from the firsttype of transceiver and a processor, the method comprising the steps of:responsive to a specific swing of the golf club by the specific athlete,receiving swing information from the grip measurement device inreal-time with the specific swing, over a first type of wireless datacommunication network; identifying a portion of the swing informationnecessary for remote analysis at the grip at the grip pressure analysisserver; transmitting the identified swing information portion along withaccount information for the specific athlete to a grip analysis server,over a second type of wireless data communication network; receivingswing analysis information from the grip pressure analysis server basedat least upon previously received configuration information for thespecific athlete and previously received golf club information for thegolf club, over the second type of wireless data communication network;determining swing feedback on the specific swing for the specific userbased at least in part on the received swing analysis information; andsending swing feedback information to the grip measurement device foroutput to the specific athlete in real-time with the specific swing,over the first type of wireless data communication network.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of sendingswing feedback information over to the grip measurement device foroutput to the specific athlete comprises at least one of: providing avisual output based on the swing feedback information to the specificathlete; providing an audible output based on the swing feedbackinformation to the specific athlete; and providing a tactile outputbased on the swing feedback information to the specific athlete.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of determiningswing feedback on the specific swing for the specific user based atleast in part on the received swing analysis information comprises:determining a degree of deviation between the specific swing and anideal swing.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving swing context information for the specific swingcomprising at least one of: distance to a hole, degree of incline ordecline, and wind speed.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving golf club information from the specificathlete, the golf club information comprising at least one of: length ofa shaft of the golf club, weight of the golf club, and dimensions of thegolf club, wherein the golf club information affects the swing feedback.6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving an identifier for the grip measurement device; andautomatically retrieving golf club information, the golf clubinformation comprising at least one of: length of a shaft of the golfclub, weight of the golf club, and dimensions of the golf club, whereinthe golf club information affects the swing feedback.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the swing informationcomprises a grip pressure.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the swing information comprises a grip pressure to the golfclub and a grip pressure from the hand.
 9. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the swing information comprises a grippressure for individual fingers.